0Formerly Dream Lover0 The Broken Window
by Satari The Dragoness
Summary: This is the prequel to Shadow Lover and Morning Lover Obviously, I have become more original. This Story is about how Rin & Sess met. So back by demand, here is The Broken Window. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1 Something to Live For

Chapter 1- Something To Live For

"I am so done with men!" Her 'sister' through down her purple bag on the counter next to her and Rin watched as Maggie paced around to room in an irritated huff.

"What happened this time?" Rin raised one eyebrow slowly.

"Look at this!" Maggie jerked up her balled fist to point at a long black mark running down the side of her pale cheek. Little black dots ran down her arm, some staining the white t-shirt she wore. Her brown hair was set in a perpetual tumble at one side of her head, barely staying in the thin black elastic that held it together. All in all, she looked like she had gotten caught under the bus on the way home.

"What's all this about?" An elderly lady shuffled into the kitchen, small quiet smile gracing her lips at the two girls. Mrs. Grace Robinson had been their foster mother for the past three years, and never once had she not been smiling. "Oh, dear." She sighed in silent dismay at the line of dark black running down her youngest charge's back. Maggie turned around to face her, tears brimming under her big blue eyes. Mrs. Robinson smiled reassuringly and wrapped one thin sweater-covered arm around the girl's trembling shoulders. "Let's clean you up."

Rin remanded quiet. She had never really liked Maggie, but being forced to live with her until her 18th birthday was a price she was willing to pay to at least have a home. Grumbling into her textbook, she once more became immersed in the wonderful science of toasters. What did toasters have to do with osmosis anyway? Maybe it was the evaporation of water from bread to make it hard? No, that wasn't right. Maybe it….

"Rin? Can I speak with you for a moment?" Her 'father's' voice rang out from the study. Sighing in mock annoyance at having to leave the gripping tail of toasters, she trudged of down the narrow hall of the small three bedroom and into the back room Mr. Robinson had turned into his own sanctuary of knowledge, complete with small TV and radio squished in between mountains of books, Wall Street Journal articles, and Time magazines.

Mr. Robinson was an old man, maybe 75, Rin never thought to ask. Grace was his sister and she had lived with him after the death of her husband in a train wreck during World War II. After that, they had held up the family home for 45 years after that, never once thinking of moving away from the little Wisconsin farm. But loneliness must've gotten to Grace, not have having time to have any kids of her own when her husband was still living. Hence, Rin's reason for standing in front of a slightly disappointed looking Mr. Robinson.

He sighed, pulling off the wide-framed bifocals from his long nose and placing them on the desk next to him. "I received a call from you art teacher today. Mrs. Rubis…Rebus…"

"Rayfus." Rin chimed in quietly, all air of annoyance gone. The one person she couldn't fool was holding out a piece of paper with "Report Card" in big block letters on it.

"What is your grade in art Rin?"

She looked down at the paper, a wave of cold guilt washing through her. "F."

Mr. Robinson held out his hand for the paper once more, cutting Rin off before she could come up with an excuse for failing six tests, two essays, and turning in class work late. "I don't want to hear an explanation Rin. Mrs. Rayfus spoke with me quite plainly." He motioned for her to shut the door and sit down in the folding chair crunched in between the 'shelve of infinite knowledge' and the 'trashcan of infinite rubbish'. "What's wrong Rin? You had an A in her class last term." He shifted in the chair, resting his elbow on the crossed leg in front of him. She slumped back into her chair, looking around the room from under lowered lashes.

"I don't know."

Mr. Robinson leaned back in his rolling chair. That wasn't the best answer, but it was honest. "Can you bring it up before the end of the year?" She stared at the multi-shaded gray carpet for a little longer, wondering if she could sink through it without being noticed.

"Yes."

"And will you?"

This was why she loved Mr. Robinson. He didn't ask questions to put her in her place, he asked questions to get answers. He could've easily told her in a domineering tone that she was a senior and that in order to study abroad she couldn't have F's in anything. Instead, he merely asked what she was going to do about it.

She lifted her chin and looked him square in the eyes. "Yes."

He smiled at her, laugh lines deepening in his sallow skin. "Good. You can go now."

Rin smiled back, standing and walking once again down the narrow hall. She could hear Maggie crying about some boy named Josh drawing all over her in Physics, but for once her whining didn't bother her as much as it normally did. It seemed that whenever she talked to her "father", she always seemed to be less irritable. He had given her a goal, something to live for, at least for now.

Pulling down the trap stair to the attic, she began the long climb up to her room, skipping the bum third step. Grace said that this had been her bedroom as a little girl. A large round window allowed murky light to filter in from the outside. It was a strange window. The center seemed to have been built in later because if one pressed hard enough, one could open it upward and air out the large room in the summer. Grace had said that her Bobby had serenaded her from that window on a balmy spring night the day he proposed.

Rin tore her eyes away from the memory. Happy things didn't belong up here.

Her pale reflection stared back at her from the oak framed mirror as she sat down at the two-drawer vanity. Dull brown eyes, shinny straight black hair, pale full lips. She sighed, bunching up her hair on top of her head, twisting it into knots, folding it and unfolding it, letting it fall in a bushy tangle around her shoulders. Her eyes seemed dead, even to her, and no amount of primping was going to solve that. It seemed that the sleep Nazi had won again, and it wasn't going to let up no matter what her brain told it to do, not even for the fascinating world of toasters.

Rin leaned back in her chair, letting her head fall back and her neck stretch as she stared at the wooden rafters of her attic prison. It wasn't that the attic was a terrible place, no, it was wonderful, especially when it was sunny out and she could open up all the windows and let the fresh warm air in. No, the attic wasn't terrible at all. She was.

Sitting back up, she raided the vanity for matches. It was Friday, that meant candle night. At least her tired mind was able to figure that much. Maybe she hated the attic because it always made her feel sleepy? No. After throwing almost all the knick-knacks she had to her name out of the drawer, she found a small pack of Hotel matches. They weren't the best, but they would do. Not being the best meant that you had to try a hundred times before the dang match would light. Rin decided the candle of choice tonight would be vanilla. She needed something to relax with. Even though her mind was already sedate as it was.

The sputtering match crackled against the black end of the wick. Mr. Robinson was right, something was wrong with her. Something had always been wrong with her. A small flame slowly lifted itself out of the wick, sparking as it found hard wax in its way. "Mom…Dad…well, guess what?" Her voice cracked. "I'm still here."


	2. Chapter 2 When Stone Melts

Chapter 2- When Stone Melts

The scent was strong here. Pain. Sorrowful, soul shattering pain. Shadows shifted, making way for the figure enrobed in white. Two hours ago he had been on a plane headed for Tokyo, but then his senses went haywire. This scent was cloying and damningly so. It had clear pulled him across half the United States, and in the wrong direction too. He was supposed to be going west not east.

Or North.

He growled, clearing the chicken-wire fence, jumping over the rose garden, and landing in an old oak tree a foot from the roof of what seemed to be a house in the dark.

A flickering light glowed in the round window in front of him. The glass was so dirty that he could hardly see a thing, not that he needed to. The scent was coming from behind it.

Getting in wasn't a problem, the old window was rotting around the edges, and the lock was rusted enough to force without much effort. A small candle lit the room, though the flame was becoming small without much wick left to hold it. Wait, no more wick? 'What kind of baka ningen leaves a candle burning in a termite hole like this?'

Moving quickly over to what seemed to be a dressing table, he blew out the light silently, looking around the room to see if anyone was near. The scent of vanilla was strong in the smoke rising from the ash of the remaining candle, but the smell of pain and fright fought fiercely with it, making his nose twitch in irritation. His amber eyes glowed in the reflection of the mirror, adjusting to the darkness as spots from the candle cleared his vision.

A moan came from the dark behind him. He turned swiftly, claws unsheathed, ready to attack anything that moved. The scent of fear spiked in the air. A small scream entered his mind as his glowing golden eyes rested on the small frame thrashing about under her bed cloths.

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"No, Mother, Father…Don't leave me!" Rin screamed, rising out of the dark dream that haunted her nights. Why? Why after all these years did that thing still follow her? Her body felt over heated, sweat covering all of her, running down her face in small droplets that were cool on her burning skin, Staring at the wooden beams of the wall across from her, she deftly wiped away the wetness, running her pale fingers over her cheeks, soothing the heat away from them.

For three months it had been like this. The dreams kept getting worse, roaming around in her mind during the day and chasing her at night. The torture never ended, and what made it worse was that she didn't understand anything about the dreams. She had never known her parents, they were only an idea, a morgue report that she had had read to her when she was four.

Died from fatal wounds to the neck, chest and back.

Both necks broken.

Severe internal hemorrhaging.

Reason- Unknown

The words "Mom" and "Dad" where phantoms of some unseen world that she could only wish to see.

None of her foster families had ever felt like home. She had been shipped to so many of them that she had gotten used to it. She was the 'troubled child', easy to ignore. Everywhere she went she had received only pitying looks. "The poor thing" was all she had ever heard. Never before had there been anyone who truly cared. She was just the means to a paycheck at the end of the month, and she knew it.

Eyes. Red, glowing, hateful eyes.

Rin shuddered.

A cool hand ran over her body, musing her hair. Her wide eyes took in the open window, the breeze from which eased her aching mind. She pushed away the light down comforter, shivering, whether from the memory of fiction or the cold of the night she didn't know.

The wood floor was ice to her small feet, making her all but hop across it just so they wouldn't get freezer burn. Fresh air was like a slap in the face. It gushed over her most likely red cheeks, playing with her tangled black hair, picked at the white ribbed wife-beater that served as her nightclothes. The stars were bright that night, shining down on the yard, making the tiny blooming roses below glow with a pale hint of dark red in the night. Smells of rain and fresh, unseen apple groves washed into her dark prison, filling it with a lightness that made Rin truly wish she could escape her dreams for one night, and seep into the stillness around her. But she knew she couldn't. 'To run away from ones self is to run away from everything that makes one real.' She closed her eyes, taking hold of the fleeting peace before closing the window with a sigh and returning to her chilled bed.

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He watched her from the shadows. Such a frail thing, barely meat on her. She cried out, screaming for her parents. 'Weak'

In his world, she would've been silenced by now, with a blade to the throat. Why had he even come here again? The scent. Even now it still lingered. A stabbing feeling throbbed in his chest as he watched her. It felt as if a knife was twisting in the depths of his heart. It jerked this way and that as she stumbled from the bed, sliced as the smell of longing rent the night air, sank deeper still as her soft sigh of disappointment pierced through him. This was more emotion than he had felt in ages and the prominence of it was startling.

He took a few minutes to contemplate this new feeling. To be in pain and yet unscathed. Maybe this was the human emotion of guilt? No, guilt was a tiresome emotion felt after some wrongdoing, and he had certainly done nothing wrong. Maybe it was pity? Never! One such as himself did not show pity, only contempt. His private scowl match was interrupted by a shrill alarm clock beating out a sound that was so numbing he was tempted to cover his sensitive ears.

The girl groaned from the bed, making a sound akin to a whine as she punched the mattress with her small fist, cursing lewdly before knocking the small bedside clock over.

His mind hissed at the prospect of postponing its private battle of confusion. Hackles raised, he waited for the next event to unfold, tense against the far wall, hidden in the shadows.

The girl shifted, rolling to her side, expelling a puff of breath in annoyance. She nudged her head into her pillow, prodded it with one hand, buried her nose in it and shook her tangled black hair out over it. She rolled over on her stomach, making a low guttural sound into the poor overstuffed cushion. With a muffled shriek of irritation, she proceeded to pound on the mattress, expressing her displeasure at being unable to sleep in very violent action that amused him.

Amused?

He shook his head. That couldn't be the word. He did not get amused. The word itself was sickening. But, a nagging part of him pushed, the ningen is certainly something if not entertaining. Unfortunately, the sane part of him had to agree, on some level at least. The ningen had brought him here. No, he amended; the scent of the ningen had brought him here.

"Rin?"

Without thinking, he lept up, grasping onto the first thing available…a roof support beam. Cursing his misfortune, he hastily grabbed at his kimono, pulling it up with him, out of sight of anyone looking at the ceiling. If he were seen, it was entirely the female's fault.

"Rin?" The call came closer now. The girl on the bed moaned out a muffle "No…" whining into her covers.

"Now Rin, you have school today. It's time to get up."

Groaning, the girl, Rin, pulled herself from the bed. Banging on the floor a few feet from the bed, she stumbled to the burrow under him, rifling through the drawers, throwing clothing out onto the floor behind her. A pair of rumple blue jeans, a large lime green t-shirt, a pair of white socks. Then she did something he did not expect.

She fell on the floor in front of the dresser and sobbed.

Every wrenching cry made the knife in him quicken. The foreign part of him who he had deemed insane wanted to jump down and engulf her in an embrace. To stop her tears.

As soon as he got home, he was going to ask a doctor to give him a lobotomy.

'Rin' wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, leaning back to grab the shirt. She tugged it over her head with a sniffle and scooted around on her butt to face her pants. She tugged them up over her knees, pausing to lift her bottom up, placing the weight on her elbows, to pull them home. With one last sniff, she latched them and crawled on all fours to the floor near her bed, lifting the door there up and crawling down the ladder to the light below.

He sat on the cold wood, watching with great disinterest as all of this took place, not even blinking, as the sun seemed to disappear from the view of the window. Too caught up in his new problems to worry that he was remaining in the room of a young human girl, in the middle of the afternoon, when he should be in Tokyo running his estates and ordering his servants around to his little black heart's contentment. There was no room in that agenda to be fretting over some silly little ningen!

Unknown to him, the little ningen was sitting right under him.

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"School Crap

Friends Nonexistent

Life Worthless"

The mental list seemed to go on forever as Rin pressed the black eyeliner pencil against her skin, growling mentally when it left a partially unfilled line in its wake. This year she had promised herself, and Grace, that she would try to be presentable at prom. Who knew that the teachers would get their undies in a bundle if you didn't want to wear a dress? Sighing in distress, she pressed the pencil harder, wincing as the sharp end pushed into her eye. But the line was filled in. How could girls do that every day? She hadn't even done the other eye yet and she already wanted to stop.

Groaning, she slammed the eyeliner down onto the table, viciously wiping at the gray line. All it did was smear and get on her hand. Rin growled at her hand, grabbing a tissue and wetting it from her bedside water bottle, began to smear and re-smear the black until it was all gone.

She stood there for a moment, staring that the wet, grey tissue, feeling the sting of tears coming to her eyes. It was silly to cry over makeup, but Rin felt as if she couldn't do anything right, not even something so simple as looking presentable.

"If you pull across the top instead of coming from under the eyelashes, it works better." The small voice came from the pull down stair. Rin turned in her chair to see Maggie's eyes shining in the evening light. "Want me to show you how?" There was no jest, no hint of taunt in her voice, only the question.

"Sure."

Maggie climbed up the rest of the stairs, moving slowly. This uncalled truce between them was strange. At any other time they would've been at each other's throats. Pulling up a chair from the corner slot in the roof bracing, Maggie sat in front of her, picking up the forgotten eyeliner from the table.

"Okay, this comes second," She waved the black stick for effect, "But before you even start eyes, you have to do base and cover up." Maggie looked straight into her eyes as she said this, making Rin feel a knot form in her stomach at the gentle insistence in her voice.

"I don't have any." Rin's voice sounded small, very unlike her normal demeanor.

"Well, you don't really need that stuff anyway. It only makes you brake out so that you have to buy more." Maggie scowled slightly. "Vicious cycle is what it is…" She reached out one pale hand and rummaged through the scarlet bang full of make-up that Grace had given Rin when she came home that day.

Rin was resisting the urge to smile at her foster sister. This side of Maggie was one that she had never seen in all the five years they had lived together. As soon as Rin had come to this home, she had taken over the attic, cloistering herself away from everyone. When Maggie had come to the house, she had refused to share her space, starting the unnamed wart between them. Rin had never expected that Maggie could be anything but a wining, stuck up diva. Then again…she had never let her be anything but.

"Found it!" Maggie puffed at a stray lock of hair that fell into her eyes as she jerked around holding a long black tube of mascara up for Rin to see. Rin eyes it dubiously, not too sure of weather to be surprised at, or excited about, or even interested in such a discovery. "This is the first step to eyes," She paused, scrunching her nose in thought, "Well not really the first step, but that's how I do it." She twisted the cap and pull out the saturated brush.

"It looks like mud…" Rin said, trying not to notice the chemical smell coming from the sludgy substance. Maggie rolled her eyes slightly.

"Yeah, I know. That's what I thought at first too." She held the brush out. "Do you know how to put it on?"

Rin nodded. She had seen "the Barbies", as she liked to call girls who wore too much make up and looked completely like plastic dolls, using it after gym class everyday her Freshmen year. She took the brush and turned toward the mirror. The first time she pulled the brush through, her eye closed on it. "Damn it!" It stung terribly. Rin's eyes began to water and she put the brush down, trying to find the tissue box on her desk. She squinted through the tears, seeing Maggie's hand pluck out a soft cloth. Maggie pressed the cloth to her eye, her own hand reaching up to press it closer.

"I forgot to tell you," Maggie whispered after Rin's eyes had stopped watering. "You only brush the tips, not the whole lash."

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Maggie left soon after that, leaving Rin with promises of lessons in shadow, whatever that was. Rin was too worn out over just mascara and eyeliner to think of anything beyond that. In a sleepwalking haze she had donned her oversized t-shirt and crawled between the cold sheets. Who cared that it was only 7:00 and the sun was still shining.

Her dreams came to her in shades. Each image was lighter than the next, until the nightmares started. The voices, the screams. Bloody eyes…

_If I weren't hungry for flesh I would bring you back with me for pupping._

_No, get back!_

_The fangs. Dripping. Can't breathe._

_Now you die!_

"NO!!!!!" The scream tore through her lifting Rin clear off the bed and setting her down quiet nicely on the icy floor. Chest heaving, heart racing, she hauled herself back onto the covers, shivering as the scenes dissipated from her mind. She rolled her eyes to the ceiling, once again asking why.

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Gold eyes flashed, as Sesshoumaru was pulled out of his cursing by a blood-chilling scream coming from the bed bellow him. It took the demon a little while to regain his bearings, and to keep from falling off the support beam. The sun had set, leaving the moon to cast a mysterious glow over the scene of the ningen no baka flat on her ass on the floor. Her skin was pale, more so than usual, her pupils dilated. The room positively reeked of fear.

He crouched down, watching her pull herself up from the floor, watching as she shakily pulled the long forgotten sheets up to her chin. Winced as the sell of salt and the sound of sobs filled the air.

Once more, his mid panged, urging him to do something… It was rather annoying. But his other self wanted something out of him, and Sesshoumaru wasn't one to deny that which was himself. The logical part of his mind began to break down the situation. It had been a dream that was for sure. The day he had come to this god-awful place, she had smelled the same way.

_Yes…_ It was the insane part again.

_What do you want of me?_ He growled back. It hissed at him again.

_Deep listen to her…_

That was shocking.

You want me to listen to her dreams? But there was no reply. Sighing to himself, Sesshoumaru leapt down from the beam, padding softly to the window, opening it to the growing night. It was settled then. Tomorrow night, he'd heed his psychopath's request.

He'd see what the ningen dreamed, and then get back on that damned plane.

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AN: Ah, the plot thickens. Sorry it took me so long on this one, but I've been busy. You're looking at the recipient of an Exemplary Soloist Award two years in a row baby! Also, musical tryouts are this week, so wish me luck. We're doing the sound of music. Some people say I should be Maria, but I really want to be Mother Superior. For some reason, I always liked her better. But as always, I'm happy with any part I get. Don't worry, those of you who are on the edge of your seats, I'll keep you posted.

In my spare time (when I haven't been slaving over this for all of you), I've been doing a lot of reading. I'd like to share a few good stories with you. Check 'em out if you have time, its way worth it.

Dare to Dance- Author: ShilohDarke

This is a story that is very passionate. It's a Her/Snape story, but it way

more believable than many that I have read. It seems to me that you just can't find believable plot lines any more these days. Thus, I am trying to scrounge up time to write one myself. I have 3 paragraphs done. pats herself on the back

1025 FM - Author: whoknoez

Awesome story. This is a Kag/Inu story that I read a while ago, but I still find myself coming back to it. If you get the chance to look at it, really take your time. There's a sequal too! -

In the Classroom- Author: kuronekosama

This is a tear jerker. Happy ending, but oh man, I needed tissues. This is a Rin/Sess fic that is sooooo gooood!

All of the previous are complete stories. I don't like to give people incomplete work to read that isn't mine. It just seems too mean. Lol

Matta ne!

Satari


	3. Chapter 3 The Unreasonable

Chapter 3- The Unreasonable

Why is it that whenever Sesshoumaru needed to keep his hands to himself, he never could. He had been deep listening to the girls dream, following through the never-ending passages of lost time. Feeling the pain of loss with her, the stab of a demon's claw down her throat. Seen the red eyes, the dripping fangs, the malice-laden jowls spit out the disgusting comment of reproduction. It made his stomach turn. He had felt the claws close around his throat, the suffocation and feeling of complete helplessness before being pulled back again into the real world with Rin's ear piercing shriek. How could one so small and weak dream of something so horrid? It made no since to him. Why a wolf demon? There was no way that a girl her age would ever have seen let alone met a wolf demon. They were nearly extinct.

His ears had flattened against his head when she let out another shriek. Damn it, he had been lost in his thoughts and had forgotten to take his hand away. Rin rolled off the other side of the bed, knocking off her bedside lamp, shattering it in her haste to reach the farthest corner away from him. It would've been rather comic if not for the fact that he had seen her dreams. But Sesshoumaru never showed pity to anyone, especially baka ningen.

"You humans are so unreasonable. If I had wanted to kill you, human, I would have done so. I would not have woken you from your slumber, that would be unnecessary."

That put the fire of war back into her eyes. A part of him celebrated that look, rejoicing in her strong will to fight that which she did not understand. It was at once confusing as well, needing time to meditate on further, but not now.

"Who…who are you?" The response came out as a cross between a squeak and a sob. The young girl was fighting a losing battle with her tears. It amazed him that she hadn't fainted by now. It was that amazement that snapped him back to reality. Why was he wasting time on this creature, who did nothing but wine and wallow in her own self-pity? Who was she to question him?

"That is none of your concern. You should be thanking me human, not cowering like the filth you are."

The child whimpered, sending a streak of delight through him. That would teach her not to… A tangy smell caught his nose, cutting him short. Blood. He smelled her blood. That insane part of him sent a pang of guilt through his clouded mind, alerting him to her clutched wrist. She must've landed on it, the clumsy oaf. Before his right mind could take control of him again, he was kneeling by her, taking her arm in his hand, licking clean the wound, soothing it with his tongue. Healing it. She tasted heavenly, another thing for later contemplation. How could something so low taste so good? He had lifted eyes hers when she protested, watched the confusion in them, undoubtedly matching his own. How could someone so beautiful be so sad?

"So unreasonable…" He was slowly coming back to himself, but not before overstepping the bounds of decency once more by kissing her forehead and leaping out the window.

He had much to think on.

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The lamp had been easy enough to fix when he returned to find her sleeping. He used his poison claws to weld the pieces back together again, until it finally looked as it had before. If only he could do that to his heart.

In the hours he had spent flying through the night, he had come to many conclusions about the matter, none of them ending with a plane trip home. This girl was having dreams about a wolf demon attacking her. The same kind of wolf demon his clan had bee exterminating for years. Sesshoumaru combed through the memories of the dream, trying to find a hint of location, of time, but the thoughts were far to jumbled to be assimilated into a coherent pattern. The girl, Rin, knew something about them, the last wolves that roamed the earth, the dream was too fresh not to have been a memory of something long forgotten. That alone was enough to keep him there. The possibility of her being targeted again weighed heavily on his mind for some reason. This Rin had captured a part of him that he was just beginning to except as now being uniquely hers, and that same insane part wished never to return again.

The sane part still held the majority, pushing the feeling s down until the proper time arose to contemplate them. For now he turned south, sensing a rise in demonic energy, in the hopes of finding an Elder of the Ancient World to shed some light on this interesting problem.

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Pancake and sausage filled the air as Maggie rushed down the hall and into the kitchen, mouth watering for the wonderful breakfast it knew was coming. Grace stood over the stove, casually flipping the cinnamon covered cakes, humming to herself as the news blared from the mini TV on the windowsill. Jim sat at the table, Wall Street Journal in hand, nibbling at a piece of charred toast. Grace looked up as Maggie quickly took a seat, pouring herself a tall class of orange juice.

"Good morning dear. Did you sleep well?" The sweet tinkling voice accompanied a tall stack of pancakes that found itself in front of Maggie's fork.

"Wonderfully." Grabbing the syrup boat, she poured out a lake in the middle of the top pancake, only satisfied when her cake castle had a sizable moat around it. Grace smiled at her youngest. Maggie had always loved to play with her food, even if it was unknowingly.

Grace sighed as she turned back to the stove, flipping a bubbling circle of batter before looking out over the front yard, watching the sunrise play over the budding leaves of the apple orchard. Pretty soon they'd be getting calls from the local Elementary school asking if they could bring a rowdy group of third graders through for a day of apple picking. The orchard had been their father's, but Grace had never been able to part with it.

Looking back down at her flat top, Grace snapped back in time to flip the finished pancake onto a near by plate. Only one left.

"Has either of you seen Rin this morning?" All she got was a shake the head and a muffled. "No."

Maggie was almost done eating, beginning to build little rivers in the syrup with her remaining breakfast. "Maggie, be a dear and call up to her please." Dropping her fork onto the plate, the girl stood up and rushed to the folding stair.

"RIN!!!!" The shriek made Grace wonder how Maggie ever managed to have a voice at all. A loud crash follow as, what Grace assumed to be, the stair was pushed forcefully down, missing Maggie by mere inches.

A crow's nest of black hair stomped into the room, grumbling about alarm clocks that don't ring and stupid sisters that scream too loud. Rin jerked the chair out, sitting down slowly, nearly falling onto the table as her head fell forward. Maggie followed close behind, eyes wide with shock. She threw a quick look at Grace, who only shrugged her shoulders in equal shock, before sitting down quickly in her own chair, focusing solely on her own food.

Rin kept on her endless mantra of grumbles as Grace set a plate before her, taking the chair to her right. Only Maggie noticed her beginning to lean forward again, quickly pulling the plate away before Rin's face made contact with her breakfast. Grace grabbed the girl, pushing her back gently into her seat.

"I want my window welded shut." Rin mumbled in a dead pan. Grace wasn't about to argue that the window was wooden.

"Maggie, please take your sister back up stairs, I think we need to let her sleep some more today."

Maggie nodded dumbly, picking Rin up out of the chair and all but dragging her back to the forgotten pull-down. Grace sighed. That girl never ceased to amaze.

"Well." She turned to her brother. "That was different."

"Mhmm" Jim flipped his paper to the stock charts. Mentally groaning, Grace got up and turned off the stove.

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AN: The amusement never ceases. I hope you enjoyed that chapter, because I enjoyed writing it. See ya next time!

Satari

Oh it's good to be back. A lot of stuff has happened this week. Matt and I sat down a few days ago and had a nice long chat out on his deck while it was raining. Matt is not my boyfriend for those of you who must know. I am happily single and waiting for any and all interested e-mails. lol Please don't. Anyway, it was nice because i hadn't seen him for a while. My bestest sister from another mister came up from Appleton yesterday. I swear, if Sarah and I were any closer we'd be blood related. - Not that I mind. And tomorrow I'm going to UWGB for the State Honors Choir practice that will keep me from ya'll for four days. T-T My week is packed! And so am I. lol

Please review. I'll give you a vertual cookie. I promise.

PS: AISHITERU SACHIKO-CHAN!!!!!! Sumimasen, SACHIKO-DONO!!


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